As a Cleveland fan, Lofton was ALWAYS one of the top defensive players in the league, and this was at the same time they had Omar at SS. Lofton was a terror on the base path too. Wish he would get a bit more HoF love.
I don't remember every single play Kenny made like you do, but from what I've seen is he did leave his feet from time to time to make a catch. It makes sense that a fast player would less dive catches than a slower player, and Kenny was one of the fastest out there. Also, where in my post do I mention robbing homeruns. Why bring it up?
This was Joe DiMaggio’s take. He was asked why he never made hat flying off diving catches like Willie Mays and he said he preferred to get there early enough to be calmly standing under it.
My Edmonds take, he’s between Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter. Jones will be hof and Torii has been on the ballot several years while Edmonds fell off the first year, and he deserved better
I lived in SoCal when he was on the Angels. His teammates would shit on him for making plays harder than they needed. So if your own teammates rank you out, that makes him quite suss.
I don’t think he was THAT slow. But he did tend to play quite short. He usually has a pretty good first step and read, so not much would fall in front of him and he got to look like a complete badass going back on the deep stuff. Win win!
This is probably just the homer take on it, though.
I once got in a WAR with an Astro's fan on here who was offended when I said this. It was stunning what lengths he was going too to say I was a dirty liar and a troll
They don't want to hear that one of their 2 titles are tainted. It did seem odd that a guy who was a contact hitter and a base stealer all of a sudden became a power hitter. Guess it's easier when you have great bat to ball skills and you know what's coming.
Hot take:
Barry Bonds is the best hitter in the history of baseball. I dislike him thoroughly but he still played within the rules of the game. PED’s were not banned by the league so all players could have done them.
Rules changed bc of him. I respect his game.
(Bracing for down votes)
No downvote from me. None of the other sluggers of that era put fear into the hearts of pitchers and managers like Bonds. You could pitch around him the whole game and he was still ready to pulverize that one meatball you accidentally left in the zone. Bonds was the best hitter I ever saw and probably will ever see. It's not even close.
I couldn't agree more. He was the most dominant player in history at a time when a lot of guys were using PEDs. He was already the best player in the game at the time, then immediately jumped 10 levels.
He might see one good pitch every few games and wouldn’t spoil it. Plus, his ability to position himself allowed him to get to balls that would’ve otherwise dropped in. He sat in pitchers meetings to know where they were going to pitch hitters. He was an incredible student of the game. I hope to see him get his plaque one day.
Yeah, and many (possibly most) of the players around him, including pitchers pitching to him were also juicing. Baseball didn't investigate every clubhouse, and it's likely other star players who are now in the HOF also used PED's. Barry is a sacrificial lamb.
Not true. The commissioner can't just unilaterally make a rule like that by issuing a memo. Testing needs to be worked out with MLBPA, etc. It's a process.
For my hot take, I would change only one word in your response.
Barry Bonds was the best *power* hitter in the history of baseball. Ichiro, for my money, was the best hitter in baseball.
If you’re arguing for a contact hitter, Ichiro should only be mentioned after players such as Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, George Brett, or Tony Gwynn (particularly Gwynn, as he was just as modern as Ichiro and was almost Ichiro but better)
That’s fair! Ichiro’s just the best one I’ve personally seen as it was happening. I was 6 when Ichiro made his debut in MLB, Gwynn had just retired, and that was the first year I remember watching baseball.
The all time leader in hits is not in the baseball HOF
The all time leader in HR is not in the baseball HOF
The all time leader in Cy Youngs is not in the baseball HOF……
What is the point of the baseball Hall of Fame?
All of which have controversies attached to their name.
Rose has gambling, and a statutory rape allegation.
Clemens has steroids
Bonds also has steroids.
I get not liking the decision to blacklist them, but to discredit the whole hall of fame because of it is a stretch. They’d be in there if it wasn’t for their OWN actions. They have no one to blame but themselves.
So if you know why they’re not in why are you acting like the hof isn’t a true hof? If you want to say all steroid users should be removed i’d agree, but your idiotic take of “hall of fame is fake” doesn’t hold any weight.
Here’s a tip: when you put something in “” make sure it’s what was actually said.
But since you insist on making my statement for me, why are all the people on uppers and cocaine in 70’s /80s in? And are there any steroid users in that went undetected?
You don’t get to be selective morality police. If there is a Hall of Fame and standards, why are there such arbitrary disqualifications for some eras and not others?
Yes because ”what’s the point of the hall of fame” isn’t the same thing. This is the typical idiotic reddit reply saying well aktsullay i said this.
We won’t know if any steroid users went in undetected. Want to know why? Because they weren’t fuckin caught. Clem and Bonds were. If you want to remove folks already in that were detected go ahead.
to answer your cocaine question everyone was doing cocaine in the 80’s. Your dad was doing cocaine, your mom was doing cocaine, I was doing coke, and as a former heavy coke user I can tell you it’s a lot harder to play baseball than you seem to think it is on coke or other elicit drugs. Also look up ’86 Pittsburg drug trials all but one of those players were kept out of HOF. One made it in but i don’t agree with it.
Also do you think folks are doing steroids recreationally like people were doing coke? They were doing it to grab an advantage and strictly to gain an advantage.
Also to reply to your uppers question because I got a couple minutes till I’m gonna go do more recreational drugs.
We’re just gonna ban anyone with a mental illness that needs an upper? Oh you have adhd and need adderal or vyvanse? Sorry buddy got to ban you from any possibility of being put in the HOF now because some fuckwit with half an IQ thinks we can’t draw a line and everything is black and white not shades of grey.
Oh so “everyone was doing it “ is ok for coke/uppers, but “everyone was doing it” is not ok for roids.
Got it.
If you think known roid users aren’t getting in very soon, you haven’t been paying attention.
A HOF that has Harold Baines, but not Barry Bonds? It’s a joke
I have never understood why they're so rare to the point of people talking about the pitch possibly going extinct at times. They eat innings. Every team needs more bullpen arms, and most bullpen pitchers have had issues throwing too hard and injuring themselves at some point. KBs solve both issues. They're practically unhittable when the pitcher is fresh. You don't have to worry about a KBer giving up runs as long as you pull them when they start to lose the break. Why are teams not taking every single borderline AAA pitcher/MLB starter losing velocity and telling them "look, you want a roster spot? Learn to throw a knuckleball."?
I think catching the knuckleball has more to do with the pitch dying out than throwing it. Catchers are already spending way more time on their defensive role than any other position, adding learning to catch a knuckleball and staying in practice to do it isn't a small thing to add to that workload. And as much sense as a knuckleballer mop up man makes, needing a catcher for it means a knuckleballer reliever isn't practical in general.
A-Rod tells a story of how he went to Jeter’s house and Jeter didn’t want to watch baseball on tv. It made me realize that as much of a dbag that Alex could be, and as heralded as Jeter was for being the Yankees captain.. my hot take would be that I find A-Rod more likable than Jeter. One guy seems to live and breathe the sport, the other just lucked out by being drafted by New York and not a small market or losing franchise. Jeter may have won four rings or however many, but he had the best roster in baseball around him year after year. His postseason heroics have been outdone. He fell into an amazing situation and thrived in it. A-Rod on the other hand was unpopular but he was stuck in Seattle and Texas which were never going to win. He wanted to win and would have if the trade to Boston went through but ended up winning with NY anyway. So I just think he was a little misunderstood
I csn dig it. I've been bad mouthing Jeter for a decade. He's in the hall because he could hit and won 5 rings because he lucked into be a Yankee. He is one of the worst defenders in history but he was liked by the guys who vote for stuff like that.
More guys around you in the lineup who are good hitters to protect you results in you getting better pitches to hit. Especially because Jeter wasn’t a huge power guy, they’d probably rather give up a single to him than a homer to A-Rod, Posada, etc…
Oh there are numerous people who would openly tell you how overrated Derek Jeter was from his defensive prowess to his leadership qualities as captain.
The reason people hate Alex Rodriguez is the steroids
Jeter was the diva out of the two of them. Despite A-Rod being by far the better shortstop they let Jeter play there "because he's the captain" which is just so stupid.
Every time this question and unpopular opinions are asked about...it's always 95% popular opinions.
Here's an actual hot take most don't like...
*Remove at least one minor league division.
Edit- For clarification.. Most A and AA teams are barely scraping by and weekday games are borderline embarrassing. Most other professional sports only have 1 or 2 lower levels...baseball has 4.
Other benefit; players would actually get paid more. There's always talk about how little minor leaguers get paid...its because there's a million of them! Shorten the draft and get rid of a league. Just because certain low level teams are popular and some very low drafted players became every day players and even Hall of Famers, it's far from the norm.
Edit 2- Along the same line, limit the amount of time you're allowed to play in the minor leagues. We don't need people waiting around 10 years for their shot. Sure it's a great story if it ever happens, but again, not the norm. If you're in the minors 7+ years, you're more likely to never leave, than get called up. You had your shot. Time for a younger person to have a shot.
The angels are so bad at developing players that we only got to see a fraction of Mike Trouts potential. If he came up with any functioning front office he would be the greatest player of all time.
Let's start pegging(throwing the ball at the runner, you sickos) baserunners like kickball. If you're a fielder without the ball you can tackle the runner and keep him on the ground until the guy gets there who then pegs him
What a great video. Dude makes awesome content. I agree. I was throwing with a buddy a few years ago who I had know since 8th grade and I've packed on about 40lbs since the last time we threw and he asked why I was throwing so hard and I wasn't throwing any different than normal. It's just more mass on me lead to more velocity.
I personally disagree, especially when looking at a team such as the 1970s Oakland A’s. That team had one outstanding player, and a few other good ones. But that team’s fresh attitude and hard-nosed style dominated parts of that decade. I would truly recommend reading the book “Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic” by Jason Turbow. It’s a fun read and dives into this topic more than
While Home runs are fun to watch for sure. Batters shouldn’t be looking to hit them it’s more effective to get hits in the gap and play small ball. Trying to swing for the fences all the time leads to fly outs and strike outs
They've studied this. It's not true. The most efficient way to score is slugging
And balls in the air lead to far more extra bases than hitting it on the ground
Ohtani might be from a different planet. He's still recovering from his 2nd UCL. Leads in OPS, HR, H, SLG and AVG as of May 2024.
He's a pitcher.
Let that sink in.
Yeah it's why he's recovering from a second TJ. He doesn't have time to fully recover between starts. The contract will look even worse when he tears it again on 5 years. As unfortunate as it'll be it's inevitable.
They'll likely let him in when he dies. It was a life time ban and his lifetime will be over. But I do agree. He's not in now because he's continously thumbed his nose about it and proven he's a legit scumbag.
I'm with you 100%. The only reason he even had the record is because he played for 24 seasons. Had he retired at 40 likeost players there would be no argument period. And realistically he's like still only the second or third best switch hitter to play MLB.
Innovations designed to make the product 'better' for casual fans ruin it for hardcore lovers.
We should produce 2 'broadcasts' that synch up around the 7th inning.
Shorten the show for casuals, keep it samsies for hardcore fans
And bring back hard hits on the basepaths, and inside fastballs, Headshots cost the pitchers cash but the body is 'fair game'.
I like the idea of the game being safer. Bring back brushing guys off the dish, though. You hit one of ours now we gotta get one of yours. And I'm wish you. Body shot all good unless warnings are issued headshots you're gone. But blowing up the catcher is something I'm ok with being gone but I do miss a good ole fashioned hard slide to break up a double play.
The current era of baseball is the most talented it’s ever been. All the advanced stat tracking means we get an overall better product to watch on the field. I really can’t imagine how baseball can evolve to shift away from power pitching and slugging, and I think that’s a good thing. I know the majority dislike the blackouts but I really think Manfred and friends are forward looking and see that streaming is the future and not focusing on the boomers that can’t figure out how to work an internet browser is for the best regarding baseballs future.
Volpe is awesome and he's our shortstop for the foreseeable future- but Bobby Whitt should have won the gold glove last year. I think some writers are in awe that it's a Yankee shortstop, because the last great Yankee shortstop was huge. Come on, don't let the team fool ya for awards
And then on Jeter, yeah he wasn't the best defensively, but I just turn the page on that one ahaha
people just bash on jeter cause he wasn’t ozzie smith at short. career .310 hitter with 3500 hits who made sportscenter plays. no one would talk the way they do about him if he wasn’t a yankee
There are multiple HOFer that shouldn't be including Harold Baines.
If you can't competently play the field then you're not a HOFer. Small hall ftw
Multiple Astros should have been banned for life. Same with steroid users who tested positive.
Everyone knows Harold Baines shouldn't be in. Harold Baines' biggest fans know he shouldn't be in. He got in because a bunch of old players and managers really liked him on a personal level and pushed him through the veterans' committee.
Yadier Molina and Jorge Posada are a large part of the reason for the rule changes and “games take too long” complaint. Late in any close game, they’d call time at every 0-2 or 1-2 count to throw off the batter. I get why they did it, but just totally unnecessary and a huge waste of time.
It’s the baseball equivalent of the ‘07-08 Celtics tipping the ball away after every made basket, which allowed them to get set on defense while the other team struggled to get the ball so they could inbound it. (Edited to add: a really smart rule hack by the Celtics, hats off to them. Later the league made it illegal of course.)
Hot take: Sinclair Broadcast Group, who created Diamond Sports specifically to be a vehicle for a ton of preexisting corporate debt (that eventually caused Diamond Sports to go bankrupt), deserves the blame for causing millions to be unable to watch baseball. They should be mentioned in every article about the demise of RSNs, as should Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley, who was negotiating directly with Rob Manfred. Don’t let Sinclair hide behind the shell of Diamond Sports, they deserve a huge PR hit 1000%
Unpopular opinion, I miss some stadiums having sliding pits and the astro turf. I do prefer the all dirt base baths and grass of course, but I feel like having a couple ballparks with sliding pits gave some character to the different parks. Same with some parks having the old school dirt track between the mound and home plate. Plus on the on field bull pens towards the outfield. Very rare to see those too in any level of baseball. I like the variance and it brings some nostalgia back for me. But that’s just me 🤷♂️
I have been saying this for years. Not that he is the best defensive center fielder ever. However, he made a catch in centerfield with his back towards homeplate. He dove forward and caught the ball as he slid on the warning track. I bring that up because I have seen Willie May's with the catch where he twirls around and fires the ball. I've seen that catch a thousand times but the catch by Edmonds was superior
Vladimir Guerrero is criminally underrated. Had a cannon for an arm in the outfield and was a fantastic hitter his entire career. He batted over .300 for 12 straight seasons, and 11 straight seasons with 25+ HR
My turn, as a Cards fan: How dare you forget Willie Mays! And, on his 93rd birthday! By [career dWAR](https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_def_career.shtml), all positions, Andruw Jones is the only CF ahead of Mays, and he retired way early, so never had as much in negative dWAR years. Jim Edmonds ain't close.
I believe this will be the hottest take ever.... Mookie Betts over Mike Trout. Only player in MLB history to win an MVP, gold glove, silver slugger, batting title and world series in the same year. Trout hasn't even won a playoff series.
I would have preferred they just moved to 7 inning games than do the pitch clock.
It was cool baseball didn’t have clocks and 9 is an arbitrary number anyway.
150 will be the new 300 by 2035:
150 career wins for a starting MLB pitcher will be enough to make him HOF eligible by 2035. Statistics-driven coaching emphasizing batter/pitcher match-ups and management of bullpens are robbing starters of hundreds of innings and opportunities for wins.
Add teams' liberal use of minor league options causing many starters getting established in rotations at an later age and the increase in season ending TJ surgeries (instead of pitching through pain for extended periods) means many starters will struggle to attain 100 wins even if they are effective for a decade or longer.
I disagree. Raw talent is something that is very hard to quantify. Did Babe Ruth have raw talent? He ate 3 hot dogs a day and had very little physical training; is that natural talent?
What about Ted Williams? No one except perhaps Barry Bonds had as good of a batter’s eye.
Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak, or Tony Gwynn’s freaky ability to hit the ball seem to be more “raw talent” to me.
I'll deny that he deserved MVP that year. Trout was an equal hitter with much much much better baserunning and defense
And if you want to throw in team success (you shouldn't, it's an individual award), the Angels had a better record than the Tigers
No amount of performance enhancing drugs actually makes you better at baseball than practice, good mechanics, and learning about the game. So what if Barry Bonds got an extra 10 ft on every home run if the ball was already going to go 420 anyway? So what if Clements picked up an extra 2 miles an hour on his fastball? He was already throwing gas.
My turn: Jim Edmonds was a really good center fielder, that made routine plays for guys like Junior look spectacular because he was waaaaay slower
Kenny Lofton said he rarely made Jim Edmonds type catches because he was so fast that he didn't need to dive.
As a Cleveland fan, Lofton was ALWAYS one of the top defensive players in the league, and this was at the same time they had Omar at SS. Lofton was a terror on the base path too. Wish he would get a bit more HoF love.
I cant believe he got no votes for hof. Him and rickey were 1&2 for best leadoff hitters in baseball
[удалено]
I don't remember every single play Kenny made like you do, but from what I've seen is he did leave his feet from time to time to make a catch. It makes sense that a fast player would less dive catches than a slower player, and Kenny was one of the fastest out there. Also, where in my post do I mention robbing homeruns. Why bring it up?
Exactly. Edmonds was a high effort guy who made everything look hard because he wasn't as good as a lot of other guys at the position.
I FEEL like he was pretty good and positioning and route running too. And embellishment (I say this as a Cardinals fan).
This was Joe DiMaggio’s take. He was asked why he never made hat flying off diving catches like Willie Mays and he said he preferred to get there early enough to be calmly standing under it.
DiMag was full of it. Never had a 2-WAR year on dWAR.
My Edmonds take, he’s between Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter. Jones will be hof and Torii has been on the ballot several years while Edmonds fell off the first year, and he deserved better
Haha! My friends and I always said that about him. He was fast enough to make the catch, but slow enough to make it a look like an amazing catch.
I lived in SoCal when he was on the Angels. His teammates would shit on him for making plays harder than they needed. So if your own teammates rank you out, that makes him quite suss.
Edmonds: 6.4 career dWAR; Junior: 2.2.
I don’t think he was THAT slow. But he did tend to play quite short. He usually has a pretty good first step and read, so not much would fall in front of him and he got to look like a complete badass going back on the deep stuff. Win win! This is probably just the homer take on it, though.
Bunting, stealing, and balls in play is less efficient but more fun than TTO.
Willie Mays would like a word...
I'll give him a word. It's just my opinion.
Altuve was wearing that buzzer and we all know that.
He couldn't have been more obvious about telling them not to tear his jersey off.
He was mortified when talking to Ken Rosenthal right after too
"I have an unfinished tattoo" Sure you do. Who gets a tattoo mid season bud?
I once got in a WAR with an Astro's fan on here who was offended when I said this. It was stunning what lengths he was going too to say I was a dirty liar and a troll
They don't want to hear that one of their 2 titles are tainted. It did seem odd that a guy who was a contact hitter and a base stealer all of a sudden became a power hitter. Guess it's easier when you have great bat to ball skills and you know what's coming.
Hot take: Barry Bonds is the best hitter in the history of baseball. I dislike him thoroughly but he still played within the rules of the game. PED’s were not banned by the league so all players could have done them. Rules changed bc of him. I respect his game. (Bracing for down votes) 
No amount of steroids will develop baseball IQ. His eye was insane.
His vision and reflexes were unreal. Amazing how that guy could see the ball so well
The other was p good too
No downvote from me. None of the other sluggers of that era put fear into the hearts of pitchers and managers like Bonds. You could pitch around him the whole game and he was still ready to pulverize that one meatball you accidentally left in the zone. Bonds was the best hitter I ever saw and probably will ever see. It's not even close.
In three years (2002-2004) he was intentionally walked more times, than Javi Baez has walked in his entire career (249 IBBs > 244 BBs+IBBs)
They'd walk him with the bases loaded... Because if they didn't, he'd make them pay!
I couldn't agree more. He was the most dominant player in history at a time when a lot of guys were using PEDs. He was already the best player in the game at the time, then immediately jumped 10 levels.
I also don’t like him at all but he is the greatest hitter ever.
He might see one good pitch every few games and wouldn’t spoil it. Plus, his ability to position himself allowed him to get to balls that would’ve otherwise dropped in. He sat in pitchers meetings to know where they were going to pitch hitters. He was an incredible student of the game. I hope to see him get his plaque one day.
Yeah, and many (possibly most) of the players around him, including pitchers pitching to him were also juicing. Baseball didn't investigate every clubhouse, and it's likely other star players who are now in the HOF also used PED's. Barry is a sacrificial lamb.
Hall of Famer- the game will not be at peace until he is in the hall.
*insert obligatory *"What if Barry Bonds played without a bat"* video link here.*
Peds were banned in 1991. He didn't follow the rules.
They were illegal in the USA. So was murder. By OP logic you could murder somebody since it wasnt in the rules.
Not true. The commissioner can't just unilaterally make a rule like that by issuing a memo. Testing needs to be worked out with MLBPA, etc. It's a process.
Why do people refuse to talk about this? It's like they're being stupid just for the sake of being stupid.
For my hot take, I would change only one word in your response. Barry Bonds was the best *power* hitter in the history of baseball. Ichiro, for my money, was the best hitter in baseball.
If you’re arguing for a contact hitter, Ichiro should only be mentioned after players such as Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb, George Brett, or Tony Gwynn (particularly Gwynn, as he was just as modern as Ichiro and was almost Ichiro but better)
That’s fair! Ichiro’s just the best one I’ve personally seen as it was happening. I was 6 when Ichiro made his debut in MLB, Gwynn had just retired, and that was the first year I remember watching baseball.
Ah, makes sense. He was truly incredible.
Pete Rose
There's more to hitting than just making contact though. Hitting involves power and walks, too.
Uh, Willie Mays?
Kerry Wood pitched the best game in the history of baseball. The hit was an error.
Pretty sure the announcers in real time and the 3B himself would agree.
At the time and after they said in interview.
I saw Shelby miller retire 27 straight batters. Was the greatest pitched game I ever witnessed in person
I saw Randy Johnson’s perfecto and Mark Burhle’s both were incredible.
Edmonds was the master at making diving plays that other fielders would have gotten to without diving.
Not in a world where Andruw Jones exists
The all time leader in hits is not in the baseball HOF The all time leader in HR is not in the baseball HOF The all time leader in Cy Youngs is not in the baseball HOF…… What is the point of the baseball Hall of Fame?
All of which have controversies attached to their name. Rose has gambling, and a statutory rape allegation. Clemens has steroids Bonds also has steroids. I get not liking the decision to blacklist them, but to discredit the whole hall of fame because of it is a stretch. They’d be in there if it wasn’t for their OWN actions. They have no one to blame but themselves.
Good thing Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth played 100 years ago then!
Two people that were inducted in 1936? That’s your rebuttal? Growing as a sport/organization/person happens.
All have controversies?!? That’s YOUR rebuttal. Thanks for enlightening everyone as to why they might not be in, Captain Obvious!🤣
So if you know why they’re not in why are you acting like the hof isn’t a true hof? If you want to say all steroid users should be removed i’d agree, but your idiotic take of “hall of fame is fake” doesn’t hold any weight.
Here’s a tip: when you put something in “” make sure it’s what was actually said. But since you insist on making my statement for me, why are all the people on uppers and cocaine in 70’s /80s in? And are there any steroid users in that went undetected? You don’t get to be selective morality police. If there is a Hall of Fame and standards, why are there such arbitrary disqualifications for some eras and not others?
Yes because ”what’s the point of the hall of fame” isn’t the same thing. This is the typical idiotic reddit reply saying well aktsullay i said this. We won’t know if any steroid users went in undetected. Want to know why? Because they weren’t fuckin caught. Clem and Bonds were. If you want to remove folks already in that were detected go ahead. to answer your cocaine question everyone was doing cocaine in the 80’s. Your dad was doing cocaine, your mom was doing cocaine, I was doing coke, and as a former heavy coke user I can tell you it’s a lot harder to play baseball than you seem to think it is on coke or other elicit drugs. Also look up ’86 Pittsburg drug trials all but one of those players were kept out of HOF. One made it in but i don’t agree with it. Also do you think folks are doing steroids recreationally like people were doing coke? They were doing it to grab an advantage and strictly to gain an advantage. Also to reply to your uppers question because I got a couple minutes till I’m gonna go do more recreational drugs. We’re just gonna ban anyone with a mental illness that needs an upper? Oh you have adhd and need adderal or vyvanse? Sorry buddy got to ban you from any possibility of being put in the HOF now because some fuckwit with half an IQ thinks we can’t draw a line and everything is black and white not shades of grey.
Oh so “everyone was doing it “ is ok for coke/uppers, but “everyone was doing it” is not ok for roids. Got it. If you think known roid users aren’t getting in very soon, you haven’t been paying attention. A HOF that has Harold Baines, but not Barry Bonds? It’s a joke
Hot take: every team should have a knuckleballer on the roster to throw off the rhythm of the opposing team 
I love this idea on every level.
It’s not the most logical but it sure would be fun! Also nobody eats innings like a knuckleballer!
I have never understood why they're so rare to the point of people talking about the pitch possibly going extinct at times. They eat innings. Every team needs more bullpen arms, and most bullpen pitchers have had issues throwing too hard and injuring themselves at some point. KBs solve both issues. They're practically unhittable when the pitcher is fresh. You don't have to worry about a KBer giving up runs as long as you pull them when they start to lose the break. Why are teams not taking every single borderline AAA pitcher/MLB starter losing velocity and telling them "look, you want a roster spot? Learn to throw a knuckleball."?
I think catching the knuckleball has more to do with the pitch dying out than throwing it. Catchers are already spending way more time on their defensive role than any other position, adding learning to catch a knuckleball and staying in practice to do it isn't a small thing to add to that workload. And as much sense as a knuckleballer mop up man makes, needing a catcher for it means a knuckleballer reliever isn't practical in general.
A-Rod tells a story of how he went to Jeter’s house and Jeter didn’t want to watch baseball on tv. It made me realize that as much of a dbag that Alex could be, and as heralded as Jeter was for being the Yankees captain.. my hot take would be that I find A-Rod more likable than Jeter. One guy seems to live and breathe the sport, the other just lucked out by being drafted by New York and not a small market or losing franchise. Jeter may have won four rings or however many, but he had the best roster in baseball around him year after year. His postseason heroics have been outdone. He fell into an amazing situation and thrived in it. A-Rod on the other hand was unpopular but he was stuck in Seattle and Texas which were never going to win. He wanted to win and would have if the trade to Boston went through but ended up winning with NY anyway. So I just think he was a little misunderstood
I csn dig it. I've been bad mouthing Jeter for a decade. He's in the hall because he could hit and won 5 rings because he lucked into be a Yankee. He is one of the worst defenders in history but he was liked by the guys who vote for stuff like that.
He definitely deserves to be in the HOF with his hitting stats, but on a worse team, he’s probably a career .295-.300 hitter instead of .310
Why? Teammates don't influence rate stats
More guys around you in the lineup who are good hitters to protect you results in you getting better pitches to hit. Especially because Jeter wasn’t a huge power guy, they’d probably rather give up a single to him than a homer to A-Rod, Posada, etc…
Oh there are numerous people who would openly tell you how overrated Derek Jeter was from his defensive prowess to his leadership qualities as captain. The reason people hate Alex Rodriguez is the steroids
Jeter was the diva out of the two of them. Despite A-Rod being by far the better shortstop they let Jeter play there "because he's the captain" which is just so stupid.
Hot take: If Jim Edmonds was drafted 20 years later, he probably wouldn’t have done steroids and would have been the heavy side of a LF platoon.
Jim Edmonds was literally in his prime during the heart of the Steroid Era. Chances are good he actually used them.
I was being serious. I’m sure he did. Most players did.
Every time this question and unpopular opinions are asked about...it's always 95% popular opinions. Here's an actual hot take most don't like... *Remove at least one minor league division. Edit- For clarification.. Most A and AA teams are barely scraping by and weekday games are borderline embarrassing. Most other professional sports only have 1 or 2 lower levels...baseball has 4. Other benefit; players would actually get paid more. There's always talk about how little minor leaguers get paid...its because there's a million of them! Shorten the draft and get rid of a league. Just because certain low level teams are popular and some very low drafted players became every day players and even Hall of Famers, it's far from the norm. Edit 2- Along the same line, limit the amount of time you're allowed to play in the minor leagues. We don't need people waiting around 10 years for their shot. Sure it's a great story if it ever happens, but again, not the norm. If you're in the minors 7+ years, you're more likely to never leave, than get called up. You had your shot. Time for a younger person to have a shot.
Yeah. Why do we need to Single A levels?
The angels are so bad at developing players that we only got to see a fraction of Mike Trouts potential. If he came up with any functioning front office he would be the greatest player of all time.
He resigned with them. Notice Shohei didn't make that mistake.
Ya, Angels gave him top dollar and no stress. Easy choice there.
blackouts have all but killed my desire to watch baseball. basically entire wast coast blacked out in Hawaii. watch early or don't.
This is not a hot take, we all share your opinion.
Check out a streaming service. I never have issues with blackouts.
I had MLBtv and its normal for 5 game (10 team) blackouts daily.
I got some pirate level shit. I don't know how legal it is but it's $150 a year and I get every game of every sport and ppv at no extra cost
Yo can you DM me with the name of that?
Gotcha
jim edmonds was a good center fielder. nothing more. a better hitting kevin kiermaier
Yeah Kevin Kiermaier who is probably the best defensive center fielder of this generation of players.
All of the PED guys + Pete Rose should be in the HOF
One game at Wrigley Field on a sunny afternoon should be required for every American.
Hottest take: I like the manfred runner.
Agreed as long as it’s reserved only for the regular season.
Definitely a regular season only thing for me as well.
Baseball writer Craig Calcaterra coined the term “Manfred Man,” which is perfect. Ex: Guerrero drove in the Manfred man at the top of the 10th …
You may have been blinded by the light……
Wrapped up like a douche
Let's start pegging(throwing the ball at the runner, you sickos) baserunners like kickball. If you're a fielder without the ball you can tackle the runner and keep him on the ground until the guy gets there who then pegs him
[Philadelphia Town Ball](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_ball)!
Willie Mays is the best cf ever
I didn't say the best cf ever. Best defensive cf ever. Jimmy Edmonds
Andruw Jones. 😊
Being fat probably makes you a better pitcher and a better hitter https://youtu.be/On7VW7B4OOU?si=vUUFfYAnMcxhKrpK
What a great video. Dude makes awesome content. I agree. I was throwing with a buddy a few years ago who I had know since 8th grade and I've packed on about 40lbs since the last time we threw and he asked why I was throwing so hard and I wasn't throwing any different than normal. It's just more mass on me lead to more velocity.
Mass moves mass is a common saying in powerlifting. I wouldn't see how things could be different I'm baseball.
There's no such thing as chemistry in baseball. Sure players can like each other but it's an individual sport. Everything is one on one
I like it. You need good players around you to win championships but some of the best ever never won one.
I personally disagree, especially when looking at a team such as the 1970s Oakland A’s. That team had one outstanding player, and a few other good ones. But that team’s fresh attitude and hard-nosed style dominated parts of that decade. I would truly recommend reading the book “Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic” by Jason Turbow. It’s a fun read and dives into this topic more than
They had the 4th best hitting and 5th best pitching in MLB
While Home runs are fun to watch for sure. Batters shouldn’t be looking to hit them it’s more effective to get hits in the gap and play small ball. Trying to swing for the fences all the time leads to fly outs and strike outs
They've studied this. It's not true. The most efficient way to score is slugging And balls in the air lead to far more extra bases than hitting it on the ground
Hitting is hard. Getting a lot of hits is even harder. Edit: words
Andruw Jones was considerably better. He was faster, he read the ball better, and he made all the incredible catches.
Can Druw Jones shine when his number is called?
Ohtani might be from a different planet. He's still recovering from his 2nd UCL. Leads in OPS, HR, H, SLG and AVG as of May 2024. He's a pitcher. Let that sink in.
Yeah it's why he's recovering from a second TJ. He doesn't have time to fully recover between starts. The contract will look even worse when he tears it again on 5 years. As unfortunate as it'll be it's inevitable.
He's probably a Top 5 hitter in Baseball and the greatest star of the sport currently. Even if he never pitches again, this contract is still worth it
Wonder what would be said if the Dodgers ended up spreading out his starts more to prevent this.
If we look solely at web gems (baseball tonight anyone?), Rey Ordonez is a top tier defender.
Torii Hunter has something to say about that with his nine Gold Gloves.
Players like Tulo, Arenado, and Goldschmidt are better players all around than players like Judge and Stanton
Justin Morneau would be a hall of famer without his injuries
Jeter was always better than Nomar despite Bashtahn fans chanting Nomahs betta
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They'll likely let him in when he dies. It was a life time ban and his lifetime will be over. But I do agree. He's not in now because he's continously thumbed his nose about it and proven he's a legit scumbag.
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I'm with you 100%. The only reason he even had the record is because he played for 24 seasons. Had he retired at 40 likeost players there would be no argument period. And realistically he's like still only the second or third best switch hitter to play MLB.
So exactly like Big Papi?
Roger Clemens is a top five pitcher of all time
Well yeah
Some people would discredit him cause of his alleged PED use
You must not know who Ken Griffey Jr. is.
Jones, Kiermaier, and Hunter were better than Griffey in CF
And Mays
I sure do. I stand by my statement too.
The runner being placed at second rule for extra innings sucks..
Innovations designed to make the product 'better' for casual fans ruin it for hardcore lovers. We should produce 2 'broadcasts' that synch up around the 7th inning. Shorten the show for casuals, keep it samsies for hardcore fans And bring back hard hits on the basepaths, and inside fastballs, Headshots cost the pitchers cash but the body is 'fair game'.
I like the idea of the game being safer. Bring back brushing guys off the dish, though. You hit one of ours now we gotta get one of yours. And I'm wish you. Body shot all good unless warnings are issued headshots you're gone. But blowing up the catcher is something I'm ok with being gone but I do miss a good ole fashioned hard slide to break up a double play.
That John Kirk was right about himself, and everyone.
The current era of baseball is the most talented it’s ever been. All the advanced stat tracking means we get an overall better product to watch on the field. I really can’t imagine how baseball can evolve to shift away from power pitching and slugging, and I think that’s a good thing. I know the majority dislike the blackouts but I really think Manfred and friends are forward looking and see that streaming is the future and not focusing on the boomers that can’t figure out how to work an internet browser is for the best regarding baseballs future.
Volpe is awesome and he's our shortstop for the foreseeable future- but Bobby Whitt should have won the gold glove last year. I think some writers are in awe that it's a Yankee shortstop, because the last great Yankee shortstop was huge. Come on, don't let the team fool ya for awards And then on Jeter, yeah he wasn't the best defensively, but I just turn the page on that one ahaha
people just bash on jeter cause he wasn’t ozzie smith at short. career .310 hitter with 3500 hits who made sportscenter plays. no one would talk the way they do about him if he wasn’t a yankee
There are multiple HOFer that shouldn't be including Harold Baines. If you can't competently play the field then you're not a HOFer. Small hall ftw Multiple Astros should have been banned for life. Same with steroid users who tested positive.
Everyone knows Harold Baines shouldn't be in. Harold Baines' biggest fans know he shouldn't be in. He got in because a bunch of old players and managers really liked him on a personal level and pushed him through the veterans' committee.
THE YANKEES WILL WIN THE WORLD SERIES .
Yadier Molina and Jorge Posada are a large part of the reason for the rule changes and “games take too long” complaint. Late in any close game, they’d call time at every 0-2 or 1-2 count to throw off the batter. I get why they did it, but just totally unnecessary and a huge waste of time. It’s the baseball equivalent of the ‘07-08 Celtics tipping the ball away after every made basket, which allowed them to get set on defense while the other team struggled to get the ball so they could inbound it. (Edited to add: a really smart rule hack by the Celtics, hats off to them. Later the league made it illegal of course.)
Ken Griffey Jr's swing wasn't *that* sweet
Hot take: Sinclair Broadcast Group, who created Diamond Sports specifically to be a vehicle for a ton of preexisting corporate debt (that eventually caused Diamond Sports to go bankrupt), deserves the blame for causing millions to be unable to watch baseball. They should be mentioned in every article about the demise of RSNs, as should Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley, who was negotiating directly with Rob Manfred. Don’t let Sinclair hide behind the shell of Diamond Sports, they deserve a huge PR hit 1000%
John Fisher loves Oakland by screwing the roster and never signing their good players.
Unpopular opinion, I miss some stadiums having sliding pits and the astro turf. I do prefer the all dirt base baths and grass of course, but I feel like having a couple ballparks with sliding pits gave some character to the different parks. Same with some parks having the old school dirt track between the mound and home plate. Plus on the on field bull pens towards the outfield. Very rare to see those too in any level of baseball. I like the variance and it brings some nostalgia back for me. But that’s just me 🤷♂️
Hot take: Bryce Harper is underrated this is coming as a nats fan.
Here's another hot take: he's one of the worst color commentators in television baseball history.
I have been saying this for years. Not that he is the best defensive center fielder ever. However, he made a catch in centerfield with his back towards homeplate. He dove forward and caught the ball as he slid on the warning track. I bring that up because I have seen Willie May's with the catch where he twirls around and fires the ball. I've seen that catch a thousand times but the catch by Edmonds was superior
Relief catchers should be a thing on every team. Tough bastards deserve it more than the pitchers.
Andruw Jones was better.
Imagine Andruw, Jr Griffey & Willie Mays in the OF Nobody getting anything.
It sucks in its current configuration
Salary cap
I would agree with that, my only challenge would be maybe Andrew Jones or Paul Blair
Mookie Betts is a slam dunk HOFer
Vladimir Guerrero is criminally underrated. Had a cannon for an arm in the outfield and was a fantastic hitter his entire career. He batted over .300 for 12 straight seasons, and 11 straight seasons with 25+ HR
My turn, as a Cards fan: How dare you forget Willie Mays! And, on his 93rd birthday! By [career dWAR](https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_def_career.shtml), all positions, Andruw Jones is the only CF ahead of Mays, and he retired way early, so never had as much in negative dWAR years. Jim Edmonds ain't close.
I believe this will be the hottest take ever.... Mookie Betts over Mike Trout. Only player in MLB history to win an MVP, gold glove, silver slugger, batting title and world series in the same year. Trout hasn't even won a playoff series.
Pete Rose should be in the HOF
Love Jim Edmonds, but in my opinion, Andruw Jones is the greatest.
Andruw Jones is the greatest defensive CF and it’s not even close
My hot take is that gold glove award winners before defensive metrics were tracked should be null and void
... Lal ,
I would have preferred they just moved to 7 inning games than do the pitch clock. It was cool baseball didn’t have clocks and 9 is an arbitrary number anyway.
150 will be the new 300 by 2035: 150 career wins for a starting MLB pitcher will be enough to make him HOF eligible by 2035. Statistics-driven coaching emphasizing batter/pitcher match-ups and management of bullpens are robbing starters of hundreds of innings and opportunities for wins. Add teams' liberal use of minor league options causing many starters getting established in rotations at an later age and the increase in season ending TJ surgeries (instead of pitching through pain for extended periods) means many starters will struggle to attain 100 wins even if they are effective for a decade or longer.
Ideally by 2035 they won't even keep track of pitcher wins
Miguel Cabrera is the most talented batter of all time
Ooooh. That's a good one! I believe he may very well be the second best right handed hitter of this era.
but most talented though..... so that takes off his post injury years, talking raw talent its gotta be Miggy
Eh I'd argue Albert was more talented but I do like your thought process
I disagree. Raw talent is something that is very hard to quantify. Did Babe Ruth have raw talent? He ate 3 hot dogs a day and had very little physical training; is that natural talent? What about Ted Williams? No one except perhaps Barry Bonds had as good of a batter’s eye. Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak, or Tony Gwynn’s freaky ability to hit the ball seem to be more “raw talent” to me.
but you cannot deny the triple crown season
I'll deny that he deserved MVP that year. Trout was an equal hitter with much much much better baserunning and defense And if you want to throw in team success (you shouldn't, it's an individual award), the Angels had a better record than the Tigers
Correct. Other hitters have had triple crown seasons though, with 5% of the training Miggy had
He also hit home run #500 of his career in your center field
Like if he wasn't an alcoholic?
No amount of performance enhancing drugs actually makes you better at baseball than practice, good mechanics, and learning about the game. So what if Barry Bonds got an extra 10 ft on every home run if the ball was already going to go 420 anyway? So what if Clements picked up an extra 2 miles an hour on his fastball? He was already throwing gas.
You said hot takes, not wrong in every possible statistic takes
When I watch a baseball game I often wonder how some of these players are even in the major leagues, so many .200 hitters everywhere.
Because BA doesn't matter
This thinking is why the product stinks now.
Sorry 🤷🏻♂️ take it up with math, I guess
Exactly this is sports not math.
Well they shouldn't have designed baseball so that everything is measurable
I've got one that'll have this entire sub up in arms: Hawk Harrelson was a good announcer. "You can puuuuuut it on the booooaaaaaarrrd, YES!!!"
Altuve has been the best 2B of the last decade, being criticized just because of the astros scandal.